Treacherous Secrets novel Chapter 29

"Maybe," Emily said. "But they didn't find any tracks other than mine, Kenton's and Mario's. If we didn't have the hotel records to prove we weren't there, we would probably be in jail for Kenton's murder right now." Her face darkened. "Maybe that was the killer's plan."

Kim cocked an eyebrow. "That's a theory."

Emily shook herself and drained her margarita. "Sonja, can I have one more before I go back to the hotel?"

"Of course," Sonja said, getting up to fix Emily's drink. "Let's not talk about this anymore."

"Yeah, let's change the subject," Emily agreed. "What are you going to do with the pictures you took today?" she asked Kim.

The subject was changed, but Emily couldn't help wonder if she hadn't hit on something. She would mention it when she talked to the detective tomorrow.

Janice and Harold sat in Harold's SUV outside the funeral home as they watched mourners coming in for the two funerals going on today. There was a ninety-year-old woman whose funeral was taking place right after Kenton Jenkins'.It was fairly easy to distinguish between the two funerals' attendees. Most of the people coming for the elderly woman's funeral were older people, with an occasional young person coming in. The majority of the people coming for Kenton's funeral were anywhere from their mid-twenties to mid-sixties.

"There are not as many people coming for the funeral as I expected," Harold commented.

"I suspect that he was a big jerk to most people which didn't endear him to very many," Janice observed.

Harold and she had gone to Louisville on Friday and combed the bars that catered to the gay community hoping to see if Damon showed up with someone. They showed Kenton's picture around but no one knew him. Janice had talked to both Kim and Emily on Friday about their theories. Harold had talked to a friend of his, who was a computer wizard, about looking through Morgan Chase's files for anyone with the name Junior or the suffix Jr. attached to their name. There was no way they could get the company's files subpoenaed, but if they could find someone in the company with that name, maybe they could make the connection between the men. Harold's friend said it would be Monday before he'd have anything because the company had over ten thousand employees nationwide and some amazing firewalls.

Janice felt Emily's thoughts about someone trying to set her up sounded realistic. If she had not stayed all night in the hotel with Mario Rodriquez, and if she hadn't stayed at a hotel with such good surveillance, she would have been the prime suspect. What really struck Janice as an interesting point was when Emily said, "What if it was a man who had not hit Kenton as hard as he could? He just hit him as hard as he thought I could."

They slid into the pews in the back of the room and studied the group of about fifty people. Kenton's parents weren't there. Emily told them that she had finally gotten through to them, but they were in Egypt. She said they were devastated, but couldn't return for the funeral.

Kim and Ashley were sitting in the row behind Emily. Emily sat in the first row with her parents on either side of her. Sonja, Fernando and Mario finished out the row. Carol was sitting in the row across the aisle from Emily. Damon was sitting next to her. The Chases were in the row behind them.

Emily had told them that Kenton was an only child, but they had expected to see some cousins. There was no one except Emily and her friends and family. All the other people appeared to have been co-workers or business associates.

A minister from Kenton's parent's church started speaking, but neither Janice nor Harold was listening to what he was saying. It was mostly stuff about finding God and returning home, the usual stuff that preachers say at funerals.

Not many people seemed to be crying, some of the women, but none of the men. Janice whispered to Harold, "This is really sad. This guy doesn't seem to have had many real friends. Have you seen anyone that might strike you as the murderous type?"